M. soccer continues undefeated streak in California

Not even a 3,000 mile business trip to sunny Southern California could cool down the No. 21-ranked men's soccer team last weekend. In the Adidas San Diego Classic, Brown defeated the University of San Diego 3-2 on Friday night and followed that up with a 2-2 tie against No. 25 University of California at Irvine on Sunday. The Bears, competing in their first venture away from Stevenson Field this season, improved to 6-0-1 on the season.

Friday night's game against San Diego was a test in multiple ways for the Bears. San Diego proved to be physical, according to Head Coach Mike Noonan. The Toreros racked up an almost unheard-of seven yellow cards and a red card in the match.

Noonan was happy that his team was able to survive the game. "The game was ugly," he said.

Brown started slowly, producing only one shot in the first 30 minutes of the game. But with 13 minutes left in the half, forward Kevin Davies '08 headed in a free kick by defender Rhett Bernstein '09. Bernstein's assist was particularly poignant because he is originally from the San Diego area and had boisterous fan support during the entire tournament.

The Bears' first goal triggered a scoring blitz that saw USD put in a penalty kick just three minutes after Davies' score. But Davies countered just a minute later when he received a pass from San Diego area native Nick Elenz-Martin '10 at the top of the 18-yard box and zipped a shot into the left corner, past the Torero goalie. The Elenz-Martin and Davies combination proved to be a deadly one the entire weekend, as the two connected again against UC-Irvine on Sunday.

"Nick played two beautiful balls to Kevin," Noonan said.

Co-captain Steven Sawyer '09 added that the crowd seemed to energize the hometown boys. "Both Nick and Rhett had more pressure on them and more excitement," he said. "There were a lot of family and friends in attendance."

As for Davies, he was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after four goals and an assist on the weekend. He had a foot in each of Bruno's five scores.

The assist came 18 minutes into the second half against the Toreros. After Brown survived a volley of Torero shots with the help of goalkeeper Jarrett Leech '09 to open the half, Davies found fellow forward Dylan Sheehan '09 for a score that put the Bears up 3-1.

USD battled back, challenging Leech a few more times before finally scoring on another penalty kick. Penalty kicks were the theme of the weekend, with Brown surrendering all four of its goals to penalty kicks.

Noonan was baffled by the fact that so many penalties could have been called. "To give up all four goals on penalties is unheard of," he said.

Co-captain Matt Britner '07.5 was proud that the team did not let the referees' calls affect its focus.

"The breaks don't always go your way," Britner said. "The team did well to not let the refs be the main theme."

After holding on for a 3-2 win against San Diego, Brown faced UC-Irvine Sunday afternoon. Brown dominated the first half, holding the Anteaters without a shot. Brown received contributions from a number of players off the bench, who replaced a few Bears out with injuries.

Bruno kept the pressure on to open the second half and finally broke out 11 minutes into the final frame when Elenz-Martin found Davies for a goal. The tally fired Brown up and helped spark another Davies strike, extending the lead to 2-0 just eight minutes later off a redirection of a header from Sheehan.

But the second goal also inspired Irvine, who began a relentless comeback attempt, attacking constantly. This pressure lead to a pair of seemingly questionable foul calls in the box that led to two Anteater scores on penalty kicks. Neither team was able to put the ball in the back of the net during two overtime periods, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

The Bears were disappointed with the blown lead, but proud overall of the results under such difficult circumstances.

"We have to do a better job at the end of games," Noonan said. "We didn't do a good job securing the ball." He added, however, that he was happy that "we traveled 3,000 miles and got a win and a tie. We were resilient and played well in adverse circumstances."

Sawyer agreed, saying, "We have to change our mindset and develop a killer instinct to put teams away." He, too, was proud of the overall performance of the team. "I was proud of the way we competed in both games," he said.

Though the team is happy with the great start, there is still work to be done.

"We haven't played to our full potential yet," Britner said. "In the next eight days we will get back into our routine. We have to take it one game at a time."

Next up for Bruno is Boston University at home at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2. Then, the team will begin its difficult Ivy League schedule against Princeton on Oct. 6.